My tale of chicken woe

[Marty chicken girl]

A year ago I became a chicken person, with four nice baby chicks, all different breeds. Everything was going smoothly, and I thought "This chicken business is a breeze!" By the time the girls were nine months old, all were laying lovely eggs, all different colors.

Then everything started to unravel!

The Welsummer, Gertrude, wouldn't lay in the nesting box. Then Bucky the Easter Egger, started to EAT the eggs of the others. Then Gertrude joined in. So we built a "roll away" system in the nesting box so the eggs would be hidden from sight after they were laid. For a minute that seemed like it would solve the problem, but Bucky and our Buckeye hen, Spot, refused to lay in the new box arrangement. Our current status is one chicken, Camilla the Buff Orpington, who lays in the box and her egg is always there for us. The other three lay their eggs in the run, and they usually get eaten before we can gather them.

Oh woe!

 

[Folly's place]

Hens can be tricky!
Diet and boredom both can be involved in egg eating, so let us know what they eat, and do they free range, or have toys?
Some birds are determined to eat those nice eggs, and need to be rehomed (or eaten themselves), sadly.
It may be time to add a few more new chicks, especially if your two egg eaters need to move elsewhere.
Mary

 

[Marty chicken girl]

Hens can be tricky!
Diet and boredom both can be involved in egg eating, so let us know what they eat, and do they free range, or have toys?
Some birds are determined to eat thosI feed them e nice eggs, and need to be rehomed (or eaten themselves), sadly.
It may be time to add a few more new chicks, especially if your two egg eaters need to move elsewhere.
Mary

Thanks for that insight. They get a feed with 20% protein, and I give them mealworms and scratch every day. Plus we give them a few scraps from the kitchen. I have been wondering if they need a protein supplement.
I also do suspect boredom. They are in a run, plenty big but still, it's a cage. And the EE who started this is the most curious and mischievous of the bunch. At the moment, I am trying to convince my husband that we can fence off part of the yard and let them roam a bit. He thinks if we do that, then they will all lay their eggs where we can't find them, and keep eating them all!
Toys... well, they have perches and things to hop on. I tried the "apple on a rope" idea twice now, but they always pretend like it's not there.
If I find any solutions, I will let you all know! Meanwhile, we get barely enough eggs for the two of us, and that's okay I guess.

 

[Aunna]

That sounds like a lot of protein. Is it a layer feed? They may be needing calcium.

 

[Folly's place]

Some people have used ceramic eggs, or filled egg shells with mustard, and discouraged the behavior. I rehomed my worst culprit, ate another, and generally haven't had issues with this.
Mary

 

[Marty chicken girl]

That sounds like a lot of protein. Is it a layer feed? They may be needing calcium.

Yes, it is a layer feed. I do give them eggshells for added calcium.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Way too many treats buy a large bag of oyster always have it out please and the fake eggs

 

[Marty chicken girl]

Some people have used ceramic eggs, or filled egg shells with mustard, and discouraged the behavior. I rehomed my worst culprit, ate another, and generally haven't had issues with this.
Mary

Mary, you are on the same track as I am. I tried the fake eggs (mine are wooden) and I tried filling with mustard (just made a mess), and then made the roll-away nesting box. It works great for the birds that will sit in it. I'll post a couple of pics. These are taken looking down in to the nesting box. We have a lid that opens on top 1791120[/ATTACH] and we reach down into the box for our eggs. 1791118[/ATTACH]

 

[Marty chicken girl]

Way too many treats buy a large bag of oyster always have it out please and the fake eggs[/QUOTE
Too many mealworms? I thought they would be a good source of protein. Or do you mean the kitchen scraps?

 

[pennyJo1960]

Any treat every day can lead to fat birds